When life gives you lemons...

Build a swimming pool in your front room, put on your swim suit and party party.

Teagan has the best imagination, I love him!

Lamby

I couldn't pick one picture! They were all delightful. Thanks to my MIL, Shelly, she has that adorable outfit to go with her lovely disposition.

She is loving her new lamb too, she is a cuddly little girl.

Eloise is One!

Sweet Eloise is one today! She was darling tonight, enjoying the extra attention from her aunts and uncles. She was so dainty with her cake, not wanting to get her hands dirty.

My favorite was part was her snuggling and packing around the soft baby lamb jake and Angie gave her. I missed getting a picture, darn. But she didn't want to let go.

I sure love my little angel!

Talent

There is so much musical talent in this house, and quite a bit of general cuteness to go along with it.

Note that Teagan wrote his own music.

Space Grizzly

I had to remember a few cute things about Teagan.

This morning he asked us when we were going to be done work outing. He uses that phrase often and I love it.

If you scare Teagan he says, "you Froked me out!"

We had a mouse stuck in our window well yesterday and Teagan insisted on rescuing the mouse. He was so sweet and concerned for the poor little mouse because it was shivering so he would bang on the window to scare it back into its hole. He stood on the couch and watched the mouse running around for hours yesterday. When Zac got home Teagan begged him to go down the window well and help set the mouse free. So of course Zac did and Teagan was delighted. They both have the biggest hearts, love them!

Teagan loves the Berenstein Bears book "the bad dream" and the space grizzly toys the brother bear Plays with. So he set up all of his toys to be like the space grizzlies and he's acting out the book. He has such an awesome imagination and is my sweetest little boy.

Here are some pictures of Teagan playing Space Grizzlies.

My almost one year old

I can't believe my little girl is almost one. She is so happy and brightens my day. My favorite thing is when she says "hi." Her little voice is precious.

The nightgown was found at my grandma's house from me and my cousins days. I love it!

She is a full time walker now, and tries to chase Teagan everywhere. Love this girl!

But I Wouldn't have it any other way...

Disclaimer: This post is heavy on the sarcasm and may or may not be offensive to the general public, read with caution.

Does anyone else ever tire of hearing someone explain an awful awful thing and then tack on "but I wouldn't have it any other way" to the end?  If you haven't, let me give you some examples (fiction, but based on stuff I've heard people say).

I have 5 kids under age 4, at the grocery store one was crying, another had an accident, another went missing and the last two were loudly fighting.  It was soooo embarrassing, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I haven't had a full night of sleep in 3 years because my children don't ever sleep, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

I have a newborn who doesn't sleep well and cries a lot at night.  She won't nurse good and I'm running out of milk.  I can't stop the crying and my other kids are getting ignored, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

We've been sick and stranded in the house for the last 7 weeks the whining and crying and boogers have been constant, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

REALLY?!?!?!?!??!?!

You wouldn't have it ANY other way???????

Do you understand what "have it any other way" means?

Wouldn't you rather that your kids sat and sang songs together in the shopping cart while you shopping or, hold on for this crazy idea, that a loving person came and watched them while you did it alone in a fraction of the time, or wait for it, that you had a cook who did all the shopping so while she was at the store you were at the park playing with your kids creating good memories.....you really wouldn't have it any other way?

Or what if your kids slept all night long, what you rather have it that way?

Plenty of milk, a good latch, and sleeping through the night.  Bam.  That would be a better way.

How about health?  I know you would rather spend time with healthy kids than sick kids.

I think I understand why people use that phrase so often, they're trying to be positive and optimistic about their life that is often times hard and challenging.  Trying to make themselves feel better about a bad situation that they can't control.

But the phrase is just used wrong far too often.  I can see that people might appreciate those hard and negative moments (and months, and even years) of life because of all that you can learn from them.

In case I haven't complained enough about it, I'll tell you again.  We have been sick with some of the worst sicknesses Zac and I have had in our adult life and so have our kids for the last 7 weeks, each of us taking turns being sick and sometimes being sick all together at the same time.  It has been very very challenging.  Even to the point that we were asking "why us, what did we do to deserve this?"  But now that it's over I can realize that Zac and I grew a lot in the last 7 weeks.  We've had to nurse each other and our kids back to health, work as a team, have patience, show love even when we didn't feel like it.  It has definitely left me stronger.

I can appreciate the experience for that reason, we learned a lot.  But would I have had it any other way?  Yeah, I would.  We would have just done nice things for each other when we were healthy.

It's great to appreciate hard things because you grow from them, but lets think before we use the "I wouldn't have it any other way phrase" so often.  Let's use it correctly.

My husband surprised me with flowers when I was sick and gave me a much needed, lingering hug, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Teagan is learning how to read using the Book of Mormon way more effectively then with any of the book series we've tried, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The sun is shining so bright that it's filling up the entire house today, and I wouldn't have it any other way.